The Life World, Grief and Individual Uniqueness: 'Social Definition' in Dilthey, Windelband, Rickert, Weber, Simmel and Schutz

Samenvatting

This examination of ontological & epistemological bases of the social definition research paradigm is informed by the works of Wilhelm Dilthey, Wilhelm Windelband, Heinrich Rickert, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, & Alfred Schutz. While common global meta-assumptions are implied in the theories of these Baden, Germany-schooled thinkers, each elaborates a distinct philosphical reading of the social definition, with diverse implications for ethnographic research on the human experience. Recent studies of the grieving process have applied a synthetic Weberian epistemology. It is demonstrated how the secularized, neo-Kantian arguments of Windelband & Rickert strongly influenced Weber's methodology & Schutz's phenomenological sociology. 67 References. Adapted from the source document.